Looking For Curved Wedding Band? Chimera Design Has Them - Loving Embrace

Does your engagement ring curve?

Looking for a band to follow the contour without the time and expense of custom?

Say "hello" to our little friend - the Loving Embrace System from Ptak Brothers in New York.

We start with these 13 curves that field testing demonstrated fit 95% of all engagement rings.

Once we find the curve that best hugs your engagement ring - then you can choose from

any of TWENTY FIVE (yup, 25) different wedding band style. Since each band can be

made from any of the 13 curves that means you have a potential field of 325 rings to find a match.

The 25 bands go from simple bands made in the metal of your choice -

white, yellow, or rose gold in 10, 14, or 18kt 

or platinum

or paladium -

to bands that are decorated with all kinds of bling 

- diamonds or gemstones or BOTH.

The BEST part? Prices start at less than $300.

We cannot make a custom shadow band for that amount of money.

Sally let us share some pictures of her ring.

Curve #9 fit like a glove - look at the results.

If you have a curvy engagement ring, bring it on

in to Chimera Design and we can help you find the perfect

Loving Embrace wedding band.

Reviews for book "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog" by Cliff Yankovich

We are pleased to report that Cliff's book, "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog", has been selling in our store and on our website. (You can buy it online here: Cliff's Book Online.)

We are even happier that we have started to get comments and reviews from readers.

Ruth W. wrote a 100 word review for Schuler Books to use in their stores:

"Otter Was a Beagle-ish Dog is an entertaining collection of musings, from the author's younger days hitchhiking the deserts of Arizona, to an intimate and moving chronicle of the ordeal he underwent fighting throat cancer. Throughout the pages, Cliff's reminiscences of the abiding presence of his beloved dog Otter, and Otter's innate ability to sense what Cliff needs, overlay the book with humor and personal reflection. He writes frankly and humbly, without a shred of self pity. His casual, homey prose makes this book a joy to read." 

Aleah is our favorite diamond supplier. She was kind enough to send some pictures of her reading the book to her son along with some comments:

Cliff has compiled the comments here on his blog:

Comments & Reviews of "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog"

Jewelry Appraisals New or Updated for $75 First Piece, $45 Each Additional

Many people in our area are paying way too much for jewelry appraisals. We have heard repeated stories of $200 for just one item. The other day a lady told Cliff her husband took her wedding set back to the chain store he bought it from and they wanted to charge him $300 for a written appraisal on two items.

Here at Chimera a written appraisal for one piece is $75 and each additional is $45, so that couple is going to have an extra $180 in their pocket and still end up with an appraisal from a GIA Diamonds Graduate. Cliff started in the jewelry business 20 years ago and earned his certification from GIA in 1998.

Why Do You Need An Appraisal?

We highly recommend that anyone who purchase an engagement, wedding, or partnership ring from us insures it against all risks. This is typically done on a homeowners policy - the piece or pieces are listed separately or "scheduled" against all risks - loss, theft, and even damage.

The cost is reasonable. In Michigan it is typically between $10 and $15 per thousand dollars of value. So it would cost $40 to $60 per year to insure a $4,000 ring.

Some insurance companies want the appraisals updated after 5 to 7 years which is really to YOUR advantage to make sure that you are not over or under insured.

Stuff Happens

Because these types of rings are typically worn 24/7/365, it is smart to have them insured. We have seen some interesting losses in our time. One lady had her ring flushed down the toilet by her toddler. Another one "hid" her ring in the coffee grinder at the cottage because her husband "never got up first and ground the coffee". Well, he did!

If you need a new appraisal or need your old one updated, bring it on in. Cliff usually only needs your ring(s) for a couple of hours. You can drop it off in the morning and pick it up the same day. Not only will you get an appraisal, but Cliff will give it the Spa Treatment - your ring will be buffed then spend some time in a nice, heated ultrasonic unit and blasted clean with steam.

All for $75 for the first piece and $45 for each additional item. 

Give Your Favorite Ring a Day At The Spa - only $15

Bring your ring in for a Day at the Spa 

$15 includes an inspection, buffing, a warm ultrasonic bath

and a cleansing blast of steam.

Your ring serves you well every day. Treat to a few hours of luxury at Chimera Design.

We will begin with a thorough inspection of all the tips, prongs, channels, bezels,

as well as the shank of your ring to make sure all the diamonds and gems are secure.

Then your ring is taken to the back room for a vigorous 

2,850 rpm massage from our Handler buffer. Our hand selected 

jewelers rouge will erase surface scratches and return your precious metal to a 

lovely glow.

Your ring will then be gently lowered into the heated tank of our

Branson 2510 ultrasonic. Special cleaning material dissolved in the water

will search our all the dirt and grime while your ring is 

basking in the comfort of 40kz ultrasonic waves.

No trip to a jewelry Day Spa is complete without the cleansing, purifying 

power of steam. Our 1300 watt Steam Dragon will blast away

any left over dirt or rouge with blasts of vaporized distilled

water delivered at somewhere between 90-125 psi.

All this for $15 per ring.

Design jewelry on the internet - point and click with instant prices

Here are FIVE designs based on the same ring from our Chimera Showcase. They range in price from $792.00 to $4,248.00. You can try it yourself if your FOLLOW THIS LINK.

14kt yellow with SI1 clarity G color diamonds
including a 5mm GIA certed center $4248.00

14kt white gold with an 8x6mm lab created pink sapphire
accented with natural pink sapphires. $2176.00

10kt rose gold with a VS2 D 4x6 GIA certified center diamond
accented with natural sapphires. $3074.00

14kt rose gold set with a 5.20mm natural ruby with SI2 G
accent diamonds $3,180.00

10kt white gold set with an 8mm cushion cut imitation blue sapphire
accented with cubic zirconias. $792.00

Okay - so you have seen what Cliff can do in a matter of a few minutes with ONE ring style - Click on this link and try it yourself: LINK TO THIS RING.  Remember - you can choose the metal, the center stone - including the shape, size, and what gem it is - along with the accent stones. Try it - designing a piece of jewelry online has never been easier.

If you come up with something you like, SAVE THE QUOTE and Cliff will contact you with a firm price - then 3-4 weeks later BINGO - the jewelry YOU designed with be yours!

NOTE: you are NOT placing an order. In fact, you CANNOT place an order using this link. If you put something together, you can REQUEST a quote and Cliff will get back to you with a price - so you can design all you want and order IF you want. Even if you request a quote, you are not obligated to buy anything.

Anytime you want to design jewelry, just go to the Chimera Showcase and design to your heart's content!

CLICK HERE TO GO: Chimera Showcase

Jewelry YOU design with instant pricing. Visit our Showcase today.

We now are able to offer YOU the ability to design a piece of jewelry in minutes. Our new jewelry showcase empowers you to take a basic ring design and make it all yours. You choose the gemstone, the size of the gem, the metal the ring is made from, the accent stones - everything YOU want in a piece of jewelry is at your fingertips.

Just go to the Chimera Design Showcase.

If you click on the Flexible Designs (part way down the page) EVERY style that comes up can be modified to YOUR specifications. Each change you make will come with an estimated price. So you can see the difference it makes to go from 10kt white gold to 14kt or from sterling silver to gold.

You can even choose the quality of your accent diamonds

and instantly see the price of the changes YOU make.

How It Works

1. Find the piece you want to work with.

2. Build it with YOUR choice of metal, gems, and diamonds.

3. When you have created your masterpiece Save the Quote.

4. Cliff will get you an EXACT quote for the piece.

5. Give us a deposit and we will make YOUR creation.

6. In 3-4 weeks you have YOUR custom designed jewelry.

Here is an example. This is ring style #121981

Cliff spent a few minutes and created five different versions

of this halo styled ring. Their estimated prices range from $422 to $5,016.

They are all estimated at a size 7.

The really great part is that every change you make is reflected on your screen.

This is how the basic mounting looks.

This version is sterling silver with a 6mm round amethyst center

accented by cubic zirconia. $422.00

This version is 10kt white gold set with a 5x7mm emerald cut

Arizona peridot accented with cubic zirconia. $741.00

This is 14kt gold (could be yellow or rose gold). The center stone

is a 6x4mm oval garnet accented with SI1-2 clarity, G-H color

diamonds. $980.00

This version is 14kt white gold set with an 8mm cushion cut

Chatham lab created emerald accented with SI1-2 clarity, G-H color diamonds.

Estimated price is $2,730.00

Finally, we have a platinum ring set with a 6x4mm diamond

accented with VS1-2 clarity, F-G color diamonds.

This version is $5,016.

You can visit our showcase 24 hours a day.

You can create jewelry for you and your loved ones

easily from anywhere - settle on the design and get the ball rolling.

NOTE: you are NOT placing an order. In fact, you CANNOT place an order using this link. If you put something together, you can REQUEST a quote and Cliff will get back to you with a price - so you can design all you want and order IF you want. Even if you request a quote, you are not obligated to buy anything.

You can adjust the variables to get the right look and the right price

all with a few clicks at our showcase.

Have fun - happy creating!

Custom jewelry YOU design - gold bars, new tools and MORE - we visited Stuller, Inc.

We have been doing business with Stuller since the day we opened. They supply thousands of independent jewelers in the US and around the world with pretty much anything you can imagine. The company started in the trunk of a car, but Matthew Stuller worked hard and promised fast service. Now his company has hundreds of employees and they offer Just In Time delivery. We can literally call in an order for any of the thousands of items they have in stock on any given day at 4:59 pm and it will be in our hands the following day.

Stuller LOVES independent jewelers, even little mom and pop stores like ours. In an effort to better serve us, they came up with a Bridge event - to bridge the communication between themselves and their customers. They wanted to show us everything they can do AND they wanted to hear from us any feedback we might have.

We have had an invitation to visit Stuller, Inc. for a Bridge since they started. It is not that we are their biggest account by any stretch, but we do order consistently (64 times last year) AND we order from all they areas they supply - everything from a "finding" such as a new head for Julie to re-mount your diamond in to the solder to hold a ring sizing together to a strand of freshwater keshi pearls and even the cute boxes we put our jewelry in. Stuller appreciates our loyalty and wants to keep our business.

Julie and I were excited to go for similar and different reasons. She wanted to spend some quality time with the tool department and I wanted to watch diamonds being faceted. I wanted to find ways to boost our internet sales and she wanted to learn how to do more at her bench. We both wanted to see how the heck they can get the right items in the box for us so quickly and efficiently. We went with high expectations - and the people at Stuller went above and beyond what we had imagined.

They started by reminding us how the jewelry business is constantly changing. We learned about the new ways in which the millennial generation shops and purchases. We also learned how Stuller was enabling US to more effectively market to them. Cliff zeroed in on this and spent some quality time with 2 different people at the Solution Center to learn how to fine tune our website. (Meanwhile Julie was across the hall in the Tool Department.)

Thanks to the tutoring, Cliff was able to reconfigure the Stuller Showcase program. He had been using it as an in-store tool, but NOW it is available to anyone on the web right here: Chimera Designs Showcase . The best feature, one which Cliff did not know how to integrate properly, can be found in the middle of the page - click on "Flexible Designs" and you will experience a virtual jewelry gallery that will blow your mind. You can customize hundreds of pieces of jewelry - change the color of the metal, add accent diamonds - use different shape and color center stones - all with a few clicks of your mouse or finger swipes. What is more - the estimated price shown changes to reflect each modification!

Here are two different versions of the same ring Cliff put together in about 7 minutes. They are made with different metals (rose gold vs white gold) as well as different shapes and different gems.

 

They are vastly different in price as well. The top ring is made with a genuine pink sapphire center accented by diamonds. The bottom one has an amethyst flanked by lab created alexandrite and is THOUSANDS less. The possibilities on this ONE ring are in the hundreds! The first thing Cliff did when he got home was to get our Stuller Showcase up and running. Try it - you will love it! Either of these rings can be custom made FOR you in about 3 weeks. Once you have your creation tweaked to how YOU love it, you can save the quote - let Cliff know and he will get a solid estimate and you can order your special piece of jewelry - unique to you and designed by YOU.

 

Meanwhile, Julie found a method to help her work more effectively and to help eliminate some of the physical difficulties that can come when you are hunched over a bench. One of the tool guys showed her a new, smaller version of a tool she uses now. It is more suited to her hands and will save her time and effort, and at the same time increase the flexibility of what she can do. We ordered one for her before we left Stuller. The best part is that we already have a new home for her older, bigger one.

 

Did I mention that we were allowed in to watch diamonds being faceted? The man we talked to trained for FIVE YEARS before he started doing it on his own. He explained that faceting one diamond can take a whole day or even longer. We also learned that Stuller can re-cut diamonds for us at a very reasonable rate. If you inherited an older diamond that is poorly cut or even if you chipped their girdle of a newer diamond - it can be made beautiful again for as little as $340 by the amazing diamond cutters at Stuller. (The cutting wheel spins at 4,200 rpm but is so smooth they can touch it with their fingers!)

 

We had the opportunity to hold a gold bar - the day we were in there it had a value of slightly more than $497,000! Cliff picked up almost a half a million dollars. (Now you can understand why they did NOT allow us to bring cameras into most of the facility.) Speaking of pictures - this one of Cliff putting in his two cents in one of the classes made it to the Stuller blog:

 

(Hard to imagine Cliff speaking up in a group, isn't it?)

 

We had an amazing, educational two days at Stuller. Everyone we met was very friendly - the place was spotless and amazing. They fed us the most wonderful selection of Louisiana style Cajun food you can imagine. They closed the event with a 2 minute video thanking US and then we were surrounded by dozens of employees who were clapping for us and thanking us. Julie teared up pretty quick and Matt Stuller gave her a hug. Cliff didn't cry, but his eyes were running because of a very high pollen count that seemed to flood the place right after the video. Odd - the same kind of pollen event has shown up at some Lowell Chamber of Commerce events in the past.

 

Thanks for reading this - now go have some fun designing jewelry. Click on the link below and then scroll down to FLEXIBLE DESIGNS and have at it!

 

THE CHIMERA DESIGN SHOWCASE

 

BONUS - tell Cliff or Julie that you learned about the Showcase here and they will take 15% off of the price of ANY custom piece of

jewelry YOU design.

 

 

The 4Cs of Diamond Grading Explained by GIA

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) invented the Diamond Grading System that is now used all over the world. They came up with the system in order to standardize the language used by jewelers to explain the characteristics of diamonds. 

This four minute video will be extremely helpful if you are shopping for a diamond or even if you just want to understand more about these valuable gemstones.

Cliff Yankovich is a 1998 GIA Diamonds Graduate. He loves to teach people about diamonds and believes that once someone understands the grading system, buying a diamond is a much more enjoyable experience.

We have this video and more useful jewelry information on our website.

Click this link to learn more about jewelry: Jewelry Information.

Chimera Design sells single diamond stud earrings.

It came to our attention over the recent Holidays that most jewelry stores in our

area will NOT sell just one diamond stud earring.

WE WILL - AND WE DO IT WITH A SMILE.

STUDS FOR GUYS:

We had two ladies from other communities who drove here just to buy one for their husband/boyfriend. Their local jewelry stores refused to sell or make one for them.

LOST STUDS:

Suppose you lost one of your diamond studs - does that mean you need to buy a WHOLE NEW PAIR? Not at Chimera Design - we have a selection of loose diamonds, so we can match the size, color and clarity of your earring and get you ONE. You save BIG MONEY.

 

One for your nose or the top of your ear - we can do that as well.

 

Single Studs - we have them at Chimera Design.

A Tour of Chimera Design in Sunny Downtown Lowell.

 

Here is a little peek at our store.

 

Come on in and see us sometime.

Adjustable chains in sterling silver, gold plated, and solid gold - starting at less than $50.

We have found a brand of adjustable length chains that are just FANTASTIC.

 

Imagine owning ONE chain that will adjust from a maximum of 22 or 30 inches

to being as short as you would like.

 

 

 

One chain that will allow you to wear a pendant on the outside of

a bulky sweater or to tighten it up to a choker length -

and any point in between.

 

 

Are you wondering HOW THEY WORK?

Well, it is simple and brilliant. Look at the round bead that

is mounted directly under the clasp - that bead has silicone in it.

The silicon gently grips the chain - firm enough to hold a pendant, but

loose enough to allow you to hold the bead and gently pull the chain in

either direction to make it longer or shorter.

 

HOW COOL IS THAT?

 

The best part of this story is that these adjustable chains are available

in Sterling Silver, plated Sterling Silver and solid 10kt and 14kt gold.

 

The price on sterling chains starts at less than $50.

The gold plated sterling chains (in yellow OR rose gold) start under $75.

Solid gold chains (in 10kt or 14kt) start at $125.

 

Chains generally come in lengths of 16, 18, 20, 24, and 30 inches.

Many times ladies WISH they had a 17 inch chain or a 22 inch chain.

Now, those wishes can come true.

Stop in a take a look at the adjustable length chains at Chimera Design.



Clarity enhanced diamonds at Chimera - what does clarity enhanced mean?

Cliff has been selling diamonds for over 16 years now. He earned his Diamonds Graduate certification from GIA in 1998. Over the course of his career, he has sold clarity enhanced (CE) diamonds to a lot of people.

 

So what does "Clarity Enhanced" (CE) mean?

The imperfections in diamonds are called "inclusions" if they are inside the diamond and "blemishes" if they are on the outside. There is one particular type of inclusion that can be "repaired" using the clarity enhancement process: a feather. A feather is an inclusion that reaches the surface of the diamond. This picture shows a nice close up of a feather:

In the clarity enhancement process, a clear glass like filler is put into the feather at an extremely high temperature and under very high pressure. (The industry guards the specifics, as you might imagine.)

Anyway, the material has the same reflective properties as a diamond, so you do not notice it unless you examine the diamond under magnification. It is also very noteworthy that the lab at GIA has weighed clarity enhanced diamonds before and after the treatment and since the amount of material used is so miniscule, it adds no weight to the diamond. Very important since diamonds are sold by weight. GIA does NOT certify CE diamonds, but other labs do.

The CE process is NOT a miracle worker - you cannot take a I2 clarity diamond and turn it into a VS clarity stunner. Most times a diamond will move up one or possibly two notches on the clarity scale. That being said, what the CE translates to in terms of your pocketbook is that you can save about 30% by purchasing a CE gem.

Here are a couple of examples of the difference the CE process can make:

The top example has multiple feathers while the lower one has a very noticeable feather almost dead center on the diamond. The CE process renders them pretty much invisible. We say "pretty much" invisible because the process can be detected using magnification. Turning the CE diamond while examining it will produce a "flash" of color - most times a purple or orange or combination.

Here is an excellent photo of filled feathers demonstrating the purplish flash -

Any CE diamond we sell has a Lifetime Warranty on the process.

 

CE diamonds are not for everyone - but our attitude is that they are just another enhancement. Shoot, if you take a look at a diamond crystal the way they come out of the ground you might not be impressed. It could be argued that cutting and polishing the diamond is a "clarity enhancement".

 

Here is a totally natural diamond crystal before cutting and polishing:

 

Not exactly the eye candy bling we associate with diamonds, is it?

On the other hand - here are a couple of CE diamonds we have in our store. The round one is 1.06 ct and the princess cut is 1.04. The princess cut is $3,380.00 and the round is $4,386.00.

CE diamonds are another avenue that is available for you to get an excellent amount of value for your jewelry shopping dollar. These two examples are about 30% less than comparable non-CE diamonds. (The round one is a D color - top of the color chart!)

Stop in and take a look - see Clarity Enhanced for yourself.

 



We want to sell YOUR gently used jewelry.

We would love the opportunity to sell your

gently used jewelry for you on consignment.

Over the last couple of years we have paid out thousands of dollars to people by selling their jewelry for them. If you have some patience, you can realize much more money for your jewelry when you let us sell it on consignment versus what you will be paid for the scrap value of the gold or if you sell it to a pawn shop or a jeweler.

Here is an example. This 18kt white gold pin and pendant combination had a scrap value of  $181.00. There is not much gold weight here - the price included paying for the melee diamonds.

 

Instead, we reached an agreed upon price range and the seller ended up with $525.00 after a couple of months. Even without a calculator you know $525 is way better than $181!

 

We sold a diamond for a lady last year - the best offer she received from a number of jewelry stores in Grand Rapids to buy it out right was $700.00. By leaving it with us on consignment, she ended up with $1,300.00 - almost double her best offer.

 

How it works: bring your jewelry in and let Cliff take a look at it. We want to price it attractively, by that we mean 30-50% less than new. We agree upon a price or price range that the sale will net YOU and then we give you a receipt for the item(s). We make between 20% to 30% commission on consignment. When it sells, we send you a check.

 

Everybody wins.

The buyer saves money on nice jewelry, YOU get MORE for your

jewelry and Chimera makes some money.

Win-win-win.

What to look for when buying a diamond.

 

 

Aleah is our FAVORITE suppliers of diamonds. She works in Chicago.

We like her because she mixes expertise (she is a GIA Graduate Gemologist)

with just the right amount of fun and crazy.

 

Aleah took the time to make a short informational video designed to

help first time diamond buyers. It is less than two and a half minutes long.

 

Look, listen, and learn - there is some good, basic information here

presented with a smile.

Maintaining your wedding ring.

This ring is a great example of a couple of things. First, it drives home the importance of having your jewelry inspected from time to time. This wedding ring has been worn for 22 years with NO work being done. As you can see, the lady was on the verge of losing her diamond. If we had caught the problem early on, then a re-tip job would have solved it. With the head in this condition, it is best to replace it.

The second point I want to make is that this also serves to demonstrate why Julie and I use 6 prong heads whenever possible. If this 6mm diamond had been mounted in just 4 prongs, then the diamond would have come out long ago!

One more thought - this reinforces the wisdom behind having your jewelry, especially your wedding ring, scheduled on your homeowners insurance policy. 

 

If you want to get a no obligation quote from Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company,

you can go to this website: Perfect Circle Insurance

 

In the spot for Jeweler Code, type in: A01904

 

The importance of insuring wedding rings.

Anytime we make a wedding ring for someone we emphasize the importance of having it insured. Wedding rings are usually worn 24/7 and things happen. When you schedule your ring on your homeowners/renters policy, or with a company like Jeweler's Mutual/Perfect Circle, you have what is called all risk coverage. In Michigan it typically costs somewhere between $10 and $15 per thousand per year. In other words a $5,000 ring will cost $50 to $75 a year to insure.

Here are some True Life stories - all of which are covered when you SCHEDULE your jewelry with all risk coverage.

• Kathy hid her ring in the coffee bean grinder when they went to the beach. Next morning her husband ground the ring along with the beans.
• An infant who was being toilet trained saw mom take off her ring, he put it in the toilet and flushed it away like a good boy.
• Mary loved to water ski - she had a pretty good wipe out that stripped the ring right off her hand to the bottom of the lake.
• Carla had a custom ring made with a trillion cut diamond. She works in a lab and hit the diamond on a metal refrigerator door handle. It broke one end off her triangle shaped diamond.

All of these instances are covered when you schedule your ring/jewelry.

If you do not have your wedding ring or other valuable jewelry insured, Jeweler's Mututal has just made getting a quote to insure your jewelry very, very easy. Their insurance for regular people is called Perfect Circle. Simply go to Perfect Circle Insurance for a painless quote. At the top of the form put in Jeweler Code: A01904 to get the free, no obligation quote. You can also learn a lot about jewelry insurance at this very informative site.

The importance of having your wedding ring insured.

Anytime we create an engagement ring for someone, I always discuss the importance of having jewelry insured - especially your wedding ring since they are generally worn 24/7.

Many people assume that they have coverage with their homeowners policy - while this is true, there is usually a limited type of coverage and a sizable deductible. What you need to really cover a wedding ring is to have it scheduled on your policy. When you have a rider for specific jewelry items you pay an additional premium but it is generally All Risk coverage which means it covers theft, mysterious disappearance, and even damage.

If you do not have your wedding ring or other valuable jewelry insured, Jeweler's Mututal/Perfect Circle has just made getting a quote to insure your jewelry very, very easy. Simply go to Perfect Circle Insurance for a painless quote. At the top of the form put in Jeweler Code: A01904 to get the free, no obligation quote. You can also learn a lot about jewelry insurance at this very informative site.

How to clean your diamond jewelry.

People ask us all the time: "How should I keep my diamond jewelry clean?"

Our answer is pretty simple most of the time - use warm/hot dish soapy water. Seriously. Diamonds attract grease/oil - when it builds up on the bottom side of your diamonds, then they no longer sparkle for you. Hand lotion, hair care products and other "stuff" can find its way to your diamond and leave it dull and lifeless. If you put your ring in some hot dishsoapy water and let it soak for a few minutes and then go over it with a soft toothbrush and rinse it well, you will be amazed.

What about vinegar? The acid in vinegar will clean your diamonds and will not harm them, but that same acid is not good for your gold - especially the soldered parts.

How about toothpaste? Again - the abrasiveness will not harm a diamond, but rubbing ANY abrasive on your gold is not a good idea.

Over the counter jewelry cleaners? Some of them are good, some are not. (some are just very expensive dishsoap and water in a jar!!) Yesterday I had a lady come in with this diamond pendant - she thought one or more diamonds had fallen out because there wasn't much sparkle going on. She had been using an over the counter jewelry cleaner (and could not recall the brand name) and these pictures show the results. The "cleaner" created a build up of crud that made it impossible for light to react with the diamonds:

Top picture shows the "cleaner" built up around the diamonds.

The bottom picture is the bottom of her pendant.

Like I said earlier, if you want to clean your diamond ring - just use some warm, dishsoapy water with a soft toothbrush! Or stop in if you are in the neighborhood and we will be happy to put your diamond jewelry in our heated ultra-sonic and spritz it with the steamer to make it all sparkly again.

My idea of a clever ad.

Make sure - Tips for buying jewelry on vacation 2.

I just exchanged some emails with a young lady. She and her fiance have a sad tale. They were in Jamaica on vacation - he decided to propose and bought an engagement ring. The "jeweler" there sold them a ring that was the wrong size - he told them "any jeweler" could size it for them when they got home. He also told them they had a 30 satisfaction guarantee.

None of that turned out to be true.

She wrote this: "My fiance' proposed to me recently with a diamond engagement ring he purchased while we were on vacation. He was promised that he would have no problems getting the ring re-sized and unfortunately that is all we have had is problems getting it re-sized. No one will touch it because they say that the stones on the setting will fall out."
I advised her to dispute the charges for the ring on their credit card.

She responded: "He owns stores in Florida as well as Jamaica and he showed American Express a receipt that basically said you had 30 days if you purchased the ring in the Florida store, but if you purchased the ring in Jamaica all sales were final. However, we never signed this receipt or saw it. He told us we had 30 days."

The lesson - be careful what you purchase when you are traveling. There are many reputable jewelers all over the world, but there are many who have no problem decieving tourists - after all, it isn't like you are going to jump back on a jet to dispute the issue with them.